STOW

    Which is Township three, in Range ten, in the Partition of the Connecticut Land Company, fell to the share of Joshua Stow, of Middletown, Connecticut—from whom it takes its name.

     In looking over the names of the proprietors of Middletown, taken in 1670, we find Thomas Stow, Samuel Stow, and John Stow—Thomas Wetmore—George Hubbard, Joseph Hubbard, and Thomas Hubbard ; Mr. Hamlin, Edward Turner, Thomas Miller, William Chenney, and John Wilcox, who were the ances­tors of some of the principal families in Stow. Joshua Stow the proprietor of the Township, was one of the first exploring party on the Western Reserve, which landed at Conneaut, July 4, 1796, where they celebrated our nation's independence, being the first celebration of the kind on the Reserve.

     Of this party, consisting of forty-five men, two women and one child, Mr. Stow was Commissary, and for his accommodation they erected a large store house, which they named "Stow Castle."

     In 1799, Joseph Darrow came on to the Reserve with David Hudson, and settled in what is now called Hudson, where he re­sided till June 1804, when Mr. Stow came on from Mdidletown to make a permanent location in his township. He employed Mr. Darrow to survey out his township into lots, which he did in the course of the season. In July, 1802, William Walker, from Vir­ginia, came into the township, and built a cabin in the North East part of lot 89, where his descendants yet reside. His brother Robert came on with him, and is still living at the age of eighty-four years. Their sister, widow Joshua Stewart, came on with them, and is still living. In July, 1804, William Wetmore, and Gregory Powers came on with their families, from Middle­town, and stopped in Hudson till they could erect shanties on their land in Stow. Wetmore (or Judge Wetmore as he is more properly called) built the second house in the township which was about 20 rods easterly from the North West corner of lot 80 —on which Gen. Gross' tavern stands; on the South East corner of the same lot, some time in the month of July, Judge Wetmore, having completed his shantee moved his family into it.

     Gregory Powers (or Captain Powers as he was called) built his shantee on the South East corner of lot 85, on what is now called the Dunbar farm, and moved into it in August of the same year. Judge Stow having appointed Judge Wetmore his agent, returned to Connecticut.

     In April 1803, Joseph Darrow married Sally Prior, of North­ampton, being the first couple married in that township; and in September 1804, he purchased lot 86 in Stow, on which he erect­ed a house, where he still resides at the good old age of three score and seventeen. He was born at Lebanon Springs, New York, in 1774.

     In April, 1806, George Darrow, the father of Joseph Darrow, came to Stow, with his family. He built a frame barn, 28 by 36 feet, which was the first Lame building erected in the town­ship. He died the 20th of November, 1809—being the third person that died in the township; Elizabeth Gaylord having died the same year, but a little while before.

     In 1805, emigration into the township became quite common, and it began to assume the appearance of civilization. In February 1807, the wife of Gregory Powers died at the birth of her son William; being the second birth and first death in the town­ship. She was the first person buried in Darrow Street Grave­yard. Mary Campbell, daughter of John Campbell, and now the wife of Orrin Burdick, was the first white child born in Stow.

      In 1808 the township was organized, and Judge Wetmore was elected the first Justice of the Peace. The county of Portage being organized, in August of that year, he was appointed Clerk of the Court, and removed to Ravenna; but finding it inconven­ient, and not much profit to be Clerk of a Court in a new county without business, he resigned the office and moved back to Stow, and located on the farm East of " Wetmore Pond," where he erected the white house, now occupied by his son, in which he lived till the time of his death, October 9, 1827.

     Captain Powers lived in the township till the summer of 1833, when he died. He was a Neapolitan by birth, a privateersman by profession, and in all the departments of life an eccentric genius. The incidents of his life would fill volumes.

     In 1806, John C. Singletary married his daughter, Harriet Powers. They were married at the Louse of the bride's father, by Judge Wetmore, and were the first couple married in the township. Mr. Singletary, while courting his wife, was doing a job of chopping for Captain Powers, and rather took the old man in by falling the timber he cut from the piece he was clearing in­to the adjoining woods, making double work of the next clearing. The old Captain kept still 'ill the wedding was over, and the chain riveted fast, when the old man stepped out in front of the newly married couple, and said to the bridegroom: "John, when you cleared that land for me you cheated me like hell, but you have got the worst of it this time."

     Among the incidents of early life in the woods, I will give you a sample, illustrating character as strongly as the story of "Put­nam and the Wolf." The only difference is, the actors in the one case were a General and a Wolf; in the other a backwoods­man and two Bears:

     In the winter of 1808, Joseph Darrow took his rifle and started for the Pine Swamp in Hudson, in pursuit of game. He had not proceeded far, before he started up two bears, which he follow­ed till three or four o'clock in the afternoon, when they "holed" in a ledge of rocks in Boston. Darrow returned home and got his father and his brother George, (now Col. Darrow) his brother James, and David Prior to accompany him. They all started early next morning, and arriving at the ledge found the bears had not left the den. They found another hole at which the bears might go out, but this they closed with a large stone, and one of the company was placed sentinel over it. The others went to the hole at which the bears entered, and Joseph Darrow, with his rifle crawled in, on his hands and knees, fifteen or twenty feet, when he spied the bears lying in their bed of dry leaves. He took aim at the head of one of them, and fired, As soon as the shock of the report, among the rocks had subsided, he crawled out, reloaded his rifle, and again entered. When he got near to the nest he found that one of them was dead, and the other; apparently much frightened, was trying to get out of the hole they had stopped up. He- stuck his nose out, when the man stationed there, shot him through the head. Three hundred pounds of bear's meat rewarded the captors.

     Among the early settlers was Thomas Rice, an eccentric genius, full of fun and animation. His worst fault was, he loved his enemy. In the war of 1812 he was captain of the Stow train band; and, as was the custom of those days, the men went round on " training day" morning, and fired up the officers, who, in return were expected " to treat." The captain was up to that, and had commenced operation, on himself before the men arrived. When they had performed the unnecessary ceremony of firing to wake up the captain, and get their bitters, their patriotism began to flare up, and the captain in full uniform, sword in hand, marched out to his bee-hives and swore he would show them how he would use the d—d British red coats!" and suiting the action to the word, he hit the hive a tremendous blow and cap­sized it. The bees, according to order, did turn out, and report­ed themselves to the Captain, who considering discretion the bet­ter part of valor, beat a retreat. The Captain was so tormented about his battle with the mimic British, that he flung up his commission.

     This township is celebrated for being the scene of a hurricane in 1837. On the 20th of October, about three o'clock in the morning, it passed in an average breadth of thirty-five rods, from South-West to North-East, carrying destruction in its pro­gress. The house of Frederick Sandford; about a mile East of the " Green House," was raised from its foundation, and torn into ten thousand fragments. The family were asleep, anticipa­ting no harm, until amid the ruin of their dwelling, they found themselves irresistibly carried through the air. Under the fal­len timbers were subsequently found the lifeless bodies of Mr. Sandford's mother, and his two eons. Mr. Sandford was found alive, but so mangled that he died soon after he was found; and Mrs. Sandford's daughter, bruised and mangled, who alone sur­vived. Many hogs and cattle were killed by the falling timber. The bed on which the daughter slept was found in the top of a tree, thirty feet from the ground! and another bed was found a mile distant An ox cart was blown thirty rods, and must have passed directly over the barn.

     This township is beautifully diversified with hill, dale, river and lake, The Cuyahoga passes through it from East to the South-West- corner, when it passes into Tallmadge at Cuyahoga Falls. Stow Lake, or "Wetmore's Pond," as it is sometimes called, is a beautiful sheet of water, about a mile in width, and, in places, so deep, that it has never been sounded. It has no in­let except springs in its bottom, and but one outlet, a small stream on its southern border running a few rods, and falling into the Cuyahoga. The waters are very pure, affording a beau­tiful resort for sailors, or swimmers. A small steam or sail ves­sel is usually kept, for the accommodation of visitors.

     This township, like most others, met with its hopes and disappointments, in the fluctuations of 1837-8. A gentleman from Boston, by the name of Monroe, purchased some land, on the river, three miles East of Cuyahoga Falls, and laid out a town, which was incorporated by the name of "Monroe Falls." A mill, manufactory, blacksmith shop, stores, and a bank followed. It became the resort of the elite of Boston, and, for a while, was the place of fashion. The sober realities of life followed. The mill, and some splendid banks of earth, in the shape of farms, are nearly all that remain—affording more real, and certain profits than did their Bank, which gave out only a promise to pay without any intention of fulfilling. An immense sight of money was expended in the enterprise, which ended in disap­pointment, and the pecuniary ruin of those engaged in it.